Monday, June 4, 2012

Each year there is a MDA ride (Muscular Dystrophy Association) sponsored by Harley Davidson of Salt Lake. They ride from Salt Lake City, Ut. to Wendover, Nv. 120 miles or so.

Of course it is a very worthy cause, but riding with over 2000 other bikers is just not for me.

My good friends Kenny, and his brother Brent, plan a ride each year that takes an alternate route, but still ends up in Wendover to watch all those 2000 bikes roll into the little gambling town.

He has invited us the last couple of years and it's good fun, so we're excited to go again. What was going to be just 3 or 4 bikes grew to 15 by the time we started out.

We rode via Twin Falls, Idaho to Jackpot Nevada where we stayed over night. I started taking pictures at Jackpot on the second day.

We left the hotel in Jackpot and ride south to Wells, Nevada.

A wildlife bridge. It helps cut down the number of wildlife/vehicle incidents.﻿

In Wells, a small town of around 1500, there was a tour bus at the gas station, the bus was filled with Chinese tourists. They were excited by the bikes and started taking photos like crazy! One of the guys in our group encouraged them to come as close as they wanted and stand by the bikes to take their pictures - that morphed into him posing with several of the women by his bike. He was a good sport, and a good ambassador not only for motorcyclists, but for the U.S. as well.

Just two of many pictures.

Kenny jumps in for a pic and got a good laugh from the tourists, and our group!

The group leaves Wells in route for Wendover, but Kenny, Beverly and I ride up to Angel Lake, 12 miles out of Wells. We debated back and forth about it, but I'm glad we did it, the road was fun (lots of sand and gravel, but still fun). The scenery was the best of the ride.

Looking down on the road we just traveled.

Looking up towards the lake.

The lake with Beverly.

And off we rode to Wendover where we met the rest of the group. This bike belongs one of the guys in our group. Pictures don't do it justice, the detail in the pirate scene is incredible! His bike has won several bike shows.

We spent some time in Wendover then departed for home.

I-80 across the Bonneville Salt Flats is the one and only choice to go east, it is straight, hot, and straight and hot! Fatigued drivers is a major concern on this 100 mile stretch. Did I mention the road is STRAIGHT AND HOT!?

The CMA, (Christian Motorcycle Association) recognized the fatigued driver problem and decided to do something about it. They set up shop at a rest stop every Sunday and hand out cold water, kool-aid, and "angels" for your cell phone.

We were hot and tired when we pulled in the rest stop; one of the CMA guys walked up with three icy bottles of water before we could even get off the bikes and I could have hugged him...in fact I did and we all got a belly laugh out of it!

Besides refreshing water they also dispense good conversation, I really enjoyed visiting with these good people!

Me with my water and the guy that seemed to be in charge, the guy behind (black vest) is the one that gave us our water.

Back on eastbound I-80; the blue in the water is caused by an algae. There is water on both sides of the freeway, the two waters completely separated by the road. The water on the other side of the freeway is reddish which is also caused by an algae. The reason for the different colors is a slight difference of water temperature on each side. Different algae survive at different temperatures so we have blue on one side and red on the other.

And here's Elsa at the hotel in Jackpot, she cleans up nicely don't you think?

Another fun ride. 560 miles not with 2000 bikes and a good time! I'm looking forward to next year!